::who we are::
MELINDA MX LEE direction, choreography, scenography
Self-producing since 2000, Singapore-born MELINDA LEE works in movement and text, both choreographed and improvisational, for stage, video, and installation. Her
independent work has been produced through the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (NY) as a resident artist, the Puffin Foundation (NY), Dance New Amsterdam (NY), the Williamsburg Arts Nexus at University Settlement (NY), the
Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the International Festival for
Contemporary Dance Arts (Poland) and Swarthmore College (PA). In New York City since 2005, she has
performed for Keiko Abe, Luciana Achugar, Jesse Phillips-Fein,
Maija Garcia, MaryAlice White, as well as apprenticed for JoAnna
Mendel Shaw's dancing with horses (The Equus Project), Donna Uchizono Company, and has studied under
the Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Company. A Sociology/Anthropology and Theatre Studies graduate, Lee has delivered papers and served on cultural panels, such as at the American Dance Guild's 2004 annual conference, Global Dance Today, at Columbia University. She is currently a Flash Reviewer and blogger for the independent dance criticism website, DanceInsider.com.
Lee has trained in performance techniques including contemporary release, contact & compositional improvisation, neo-traditional African dance, as well as Lecoq-based mime, mask, & voice. She has performed internationally under Jamaludin Jalil of Singapore Dance Theatre, Wendy Ng of Singapore Repertory Theatre, and Jacek Luminski of Silesian Dance Theatre, Poland, the latter under whom she established the core of her contemporary dance training and where she studied the Polish avant-garde.
ERNESTO KLAR sound, technology, media
Composer
and media artist based in New York City, Ernesto Klar is founder and
artistic director of Klaresque Studio, a multidisciplinary art studio
dedicated to creating, producing and presenting experimental artworks
in music, performance and new media. His performance and installation
works incorporate digital manipulation of diverse source material,
including live instrumental music, computer generated sounds,
prerecorded music and everyday sounds, often combining his soundscapes
with movement/dance, light, and video. Klar's works have been
presented at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Danspace
Project, Roulette Intermedium in New York City, the Center of
Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (Spain), and 'Casa de los Morlanes'
in Zaragoza (Spain), among others. His awards include grants,
fellowships, and commissions from the Cambridge Arts Council, the
Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Italian Cultural Institute of New
York, and the Jerome Foundation/Roulette. Klar holds a Composition
degree from Berklee College of music, and an MFA in Design and
Technology at Parsons The New School for Design.
Images (laboratory)
SERA-KIM HUENERGARD costume design
SERA-KIM HUENERGARD (Costume Designer) is a visual consultant for Michael Helland’s next show at the Chocolate Factory in May and is designing the “visualscape” for Daniel Linehan’s 2007 season at DTW. Sera’s visual pieces have bee worn by The New Ugly, most recently at Joyce Soho Presents in May 2006, and have also appeared in Mr. Linehan’s work in Bodyblends at Dixon Place in June 2006. Sera is originally from the wilderness of Washington State and holds a BFA in Sculpture and a BA in Dance from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Images
PERFORMERS
SUNDER ASHNI, a woman on the Medicine path, believes in the use of the artistic process as a vehicle for transformation and healing. Using dance, theater and words to weave her way through this life, she was Artist in Residence with Tribeca Performing Arts Center in 2003 and 2004. She is currently working with Movement for the Urban Village (a dance collective) and D underbelly, a multidisciplinary performance collective and in residence with the Society of the Educational Arts. She is an experienced teaching artist specializing in Dance, Theater, Poetry, Storytelling and Yoga.
EMILIE BARRET is alive and dancing in New York. She hails from Paris, France, and likes crossing the Atlantic. Besides being a better and better dancer she also wants to be a badass drummer when she grows up.
IOLET FRANCIS will spend the next few weeks discovering the delicious complexities of good chicken curry. Present observations include the surprising role of cinnamon. In her little Bronx kitchen she likes to be. Also, she likes to dance sometimes, her latest journey being with the beautiful ladies of The Mouth project. Next up is more dancing with Jennifer Monson.
ANGELA HELLAND comes from Minnesota, an inspirational land of kind folk and great corn. Angela also learned to dance there, and would never have made it to NYC without her amazing teachers. In NYC, Angela has danced for White Road Dance Media and David Dorfman and Dancers, among others.
SHELLEY HIRSCH (Virtual Guest Performer) is "an unorthodox, extraordinary fusion of vocalist, composer, and performance artist " (Anne LeBaron) whose work encompasses story telling pieces, staged performances, compositions, improvisations, collaborations, installations, and radioplays, which have been presented on 5 continents. Her mostly solo performance pieces include the multimedia "O Little Town of East New York" and "For Jerry" (virtual duets with the late great Jerry Hunt). She is currently an improvising vocalist in Alvin Currans Philharmonie (w/ Fred Frith, Joan Jeanrenaud, Willie Winants and Curran), Billy Martin's "Drop the Needle Project" (w/ Martin, DJ Olive, Min Xiao Fen, Cyro Baptista, Melvin Gibbs, Graham Haynes, Danny Blume), in Christian Calons "Ulysses" project and she is heard on the soundtrack for Noemie LaFrances choreography in a staircase "Descent". Grants and fellowships include several from NEA and NYFA in music composition, new forms, interarts and performance art categories, from Mary Flagler Carey Trust in the music for theater and recording categories and from NYSCA in electronic music. Residencies include the prestigious DAAD Residency (Berlin); STEIM (Amsterdam) 2xs; Harvestworks, Studio PASS (NYC) 4xs; Arcadia Summer Arts Residency (Maine); Boston Museum School; Voiceover Festival (London).
SERA-KIM HUENERGARD has been creating and performing in New York since 2004. This is her first performance with Melinda and she is very excited to be a part of her process. Sera has been seen in compositions by Mark Haim, Jennifer Salk, Jeanette Stoner, Dorian Nuskind-Oder, Alice White, Josselyn Levinson, Adriane Lee/Rosario and collaborations with Michael Helland/The New Ugly. Her own work has been presented in Fall Into Malina at the City Center Studios, Chashama’s Oasis 2006 and Ectype Dance at the Field Far Space in NYC, and at programs in Washington, California and Arizona. Sera has recently joined Zvi Gotheiner Dance.
After having been dancing around in her home country Germany and in the Netherlands, ILDIKO TOTH is testing New York's dance scene for more than a year now. She was most recently seen dancing for Bill Young and Dancers.
Previous cast members: Shiho Kawauchi, Charlotte wan Dean
OTHER COLLABORATORS
Javier Lara - Textiles, Video (Chicago);
Megan Metcalf - Dance, Video (New York);
Shanti Crawford - Dance, Dramaturgy (New York);
Jose Aragon - Design, Video, Photo (Madrid/New York);
Hernease Davis - Photo (Philadelphia)